After nearly three years of inaction, miscommunication and legal wrangling, the ordinance allowing city police to seize cars from repeat drunken drivers could soon be implemented, Police Chief Aric Wheeler said.

As soon as the city and the Police Department hire a hearing officer, the city will begin seizing cars, Wheeler said. However, the Police Department has no money for a hearing officer, so they hope to initially use a member of the city staff — most likely a city attorney — until funds from the program begin rolling in and can be applied to the hearing officer, he said.

Once that person is in place, police can begin seizing cars, which will be temporarily stored at the city's impound lot until a special DWI seizure lot can be completed, Wheeler said. He wasn't sure when exactly that would happen.

"We've been trying to get this thing up and running for some time," Wheeler said. "If we could have gotten it going months ago, we would have. There's been a huge amount of bumps in the road that came along the way."

The City Council approved the ordinance in January 2007. Anyone cited for driving while intoxicated can have their car seized by the city and forfeited, according to the ordinance. However, if a person follows certain guidelines — including installing an ignition interlock device — a car is unlikely to be forfeited to the city until a third DWI citation.

If a person is acquitted of the charge, the car cannot be seized.

In the beginning, the city and the county were going to jointly seize DWI cars, Wheeler said. However, officials determined that the volume of cars between the two entities would be too great for just one parking lot, so that plan was scuttled. Then the city began looking for land for a parking lot and none was available, he said.

That led them to city-owned land near the Department of Public Safety and New Mexico State Police headquarters on Cerrillos Road and Jaguar Drive that is currently leased to the state, Wheeler said. After much legal back-and-forth, the city received back two acres that was being leased to the state for the lot, he said.

Still, the lot has to be built and secured properly before cars can be stored there, Wheeler said. That is slated to cost $120,000, which the city department hasn't budgeted. Wheeler, however, has directed one of his deputy chiefs to find the money for the lot and $9,000 for boots that will be placed on cars. Capt. Anthony Robbin, who has worked on the project for the Police Department, said Friday the lot could be ready by mid-September.

Meanwhile, the city will store any cars it seizes in its existing impound lot, Wheeler said.

Another bump in the road had to do with fees the department would charge under the ordinance.

Police officials were under the impression until only recently that council members and members of various subcommittees had to sign off on the fees before they could be implemented. Robbin brought the issue before the Public Safety Committee earlier this month, which unanimously agreed to the fees.

However, in response to a question about why it was taking so long to implement the ordinance late Wednesday night at this week's council meeting from Councilor Patti Bushee — who sponsored the ordinance — city attorney Frank Katz said police have always had the authority to set the fees. Robbin wasn't aware of that fact until a reporter told him Thursday.

Bushee didn't return two phone messages seeking comment.

Councilor Ron Trujillo declined earlier this week to place blame for why the ordinance has taken so long to implement.

"I just want to see this thing start going," he said. "The ordinance is passed, so let's get on the ball and start doing what the ordinance states."

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.